Online campaign to win over Gaza voters

Hamas is expected to win the local elections in Gaza while Fatah will win in the occupied West Bank by a small margin, a new survey revealed.

Some 60 per cent of those eligible to vote will do so, according to the survey conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD).

Of those polled, 47 per cent said the elections, scheduled for 8 October, would be held as planned, while 32 per cent didn’t think they would take place.

The elections would not lead to improving the chances of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas according 46 per cent of respondents, while 21 per cent believed that local elections should help improve the chance of reconciliation.

Conducted by e-mail between 12-18 August, the survey questioned 205 experts in local affairs, 83 per cent in the West Bank and 17 per cent in the Gaza Strip. They represented journalists, university professors, local government officials, lawyers, doctors and engineers amongst others.

In preparation for the elections, Fatah and Hamas have taken their campaigns in the Gaza Strip to social media where they have been battling it out with videos and hashtags to win over voters.

The hashtag #Thank _you_Hamas was used with videos to showcase the movement’s contributions to life in the Strip. The videos show amusement parks, universities and people living happily in a modern environment with no clips of the destruction or devastation caused by the three Israeli wars on the Strip or as a result of the siege.

Fatah responded using the same hashtag, his time ironically, and reworking the Hamas video to show what it believes to be the truth about life in Gaza. Israeli bombs can be seen exploding over rooftops, and the devastation caused by the 2014 Israeli war on the Strip can be seen.

Hamas’ videos are now also being used by the pro-Israel lobby to divert attention from the damage caused by the occupation on the beleaguered Strip.